Mama June Spills on Life With Honey Boo Boo
July 28, 2013 by Jessica Salem
TLC’s controversial show Here Comes Honey Boo Boo features Alana “Honey Boo Boo” Thompson and her crazy Southern family. Alana rose to fame on Toddlers and Tiaras and her wild antics earned her a spin-off show of her own. The Thompson family has won over audiences with their redneck ways and difficult-to-understand lingo. Matriarch June “Mama” Shannon gave US Weekly a look into her life with Honey Boo Boo and company.
Mama June and her husband Mike “Sugar Bear” Thompson are in charge of four daughters and one grandbaby. There is 7-year old Alana, 18-year old Anna “Chickadee”, 16-year old Jessica “Chubbs”, 13-year old Lauryn “Pumpkin”, and Anna’s newborn daughter, “Baby Kaitlyn.”
Mama June gives some tough love to her girls. When they break curfew, they don’t get to go out and see their boyfriends or friends for a few weeks and when they skip their assigned chores, Mama June “takes away their iPads, iPods, phones, and electronics.” She tells US, ”99 percent of the time, you’ll get results.” She also has a few tricks up her sleeve. When she wants to find out if the girls really got their work done, “I tell them I’ve got hidden cameras and I’m gonna go watch. They really start spilling the beans!”
In addition to chores and punishments, Mama June makes sure the newfound fame and criticism doesn’t get into their heads. “My girls didn’t grow up with a lot of labels or anything,” she explains. “I always tell them, ‘Be who you are. If people don’t like you, oh well.’”